Title: La Vita Amara
Author: Kamel
Pairing: Haruka/Michiru
Word Count: 3000
Genre: Romance, Drama
Rating: PG-13
Feedback: Please and thank you.
Summary: AU Day in and day out in a small town in Sicily, Haruka, the fish mangler, provides for the people of Porto Empedocle – a boring old life which gets a twisted turn upon discovering a mermaid late one night by the name of Michiru.
Chapter One
Many considered the career of a fish mangler was one that was slowly coming to a slow end, but until then, the young fisherman was going to continue venturing off the coast of Sicily on her boat nearly every evening. She did not mind the smell of the ocean, nor could she ever turn her back to the wind – no she was going to continue her way of life. She would never give up the chance to bask in the wind she felt a part of. She was going to continue to fish, continue to sell her catch in the back of his three wheeled, small truck. The demand was there, the people of Porto Empedocle would still buy her fresh catch over the packaged products shipped to the small grocery stores within the equally as small community. She was not going to quit even though the job in question was not suitable for that of a proper woman, but when had she ever been proper?
The boat was floating peacefully in the usually calm sea, one of her favorite places. The young woman was laying back on the front of her boat, enjoying the warm sunrays; it was an excellent Sunday. The market would be in town tomorrow and she was expected to bring a massive loud of fish in which was typically no problem, today's catch looked to be pretty promising. There was nothing to worry about.
A light chuckle escaped the back of her throat as she stretched her arms over her head and her legs out. She could hear the voices of her friends echoing in her mind if they found out her hard day at work was actually a pleasant snooze in the sun. 'Haruka, you God damn bastard!' A sly grin played her lips as he sat up, planting his arms behind her arched back and crossed her long, slender legs. She could clearly see Setsuna's reaction – the woman's eyebrow twitching as she struggles to keep her mouth shut, but the older woman would crack, Haruka knew. Setsuna would lecture about how she spent the day slaving away in the ornament shop, tending to crystal figures, clocks, and such. The idea bemused the fisherman; she would deal with her overexcited roommate when the time came.
Glancing at her watch, Haruka frowned. The damn thing was seven minutes off and she could not adjust the hands of it either, she tried countless of times while out here doing her job, but it was no use. The little screw was stuck in place. Luckily the street market was tomorrow, she could return it to the dealer she had bought it from, see if he could work his magic and adjust the minute had. She should not have expected a better watch, finding an ideal watch in one of those markets she would consider a miracle. Appearances wise, they were pretty good watches, but do not expect them to work properly, that is what she had learned over the years. The true nature of glancing at her watch confirmed that it was getting close to lunch time. The town would close down for lunch and for an afternoon nap, Haruka should return to port, even though it would be empty handed. The day was still young and she would be venturing off before the dawn tomorrow morning for an even fresher catch.
"Alright," Haruka grumbled as she pulled herself back onto her feet, her body, having been use to the relaxing posture, protesting slightly as she done so. Even though she had spent the better part of the morning lying around on the boat, she could definitely use a small afternoon nap if Setsuna would allow – knowing her roommate, they probably had some cleaning scheduled. If she knew before hand, Haruka would have made it a point to continue to stay out at sea, but Setsuna knew to be secretive when it came to household chores, clever woman. She could continue to stay out here to avoid the chores that may not even be happening, but then she would miss out on a nicely made lunch and an afternoon nap – she would rather risk it, personally. A nap sounded amazing, a perfect remedy to her early morning and she was probably facing a late night also; she always did the night before the market.
It took a few minutes to stir the boat back into the harbor of Porto Empedocle. It took a few more to double check the boat was properly docked; the last thing she wanted was another fine for unintentionally blocking the water way. Brushing her hands off, Haruka gave a wave to a small group of middle aged men who, in return, gestured her way – locals of the small town where nearly everyone knew everyone else. It would be a miracle if you were able to take a walk anywhere and not be recognized. She started off towards the apartment located only a couple blocks away. It was a ten story building and theirs could be found at the top level, giving them an amazing view of the port and the ocean from their balcony Haruka spent so much time just staring off into space, enjoying the sea breeze.
A downside when encountering a very tiring day, the building had no elevator; it was a slightly older builder. There had been nights Haruka could barely move her legs, but she had to drag herself up what felt like a million flight of stairs. This early afternoon was different, she was relaxed and tackling these stairs was no problem what-so-ever. She took them two at a time as quick as she could, as if she were racing against time itself. She reached the front door of the familiar apartment, panting, and dug through her pockets for her copy of the key. Still panting like a dog, the woman managed to unlock, step in, and shut the door securely behind it – it had a tendency for stay just a smidge open if you literally did not throw your entire body weight against it. The ruckus had alerted the other woman of the household of her arrival.
"Just on time for once," the voice echoed down the hallway, causing a small chuckle to escape Haruka who was hanging up her coat and hat on the hanger before proceeding into the kitchen where lunch was already laid out upon the table.
The tall, tanned woman was already sitting at the table, elbows resting against the wooden top as her chin pressed upon her folded hands. Her eyebrows rose slightly as maroon eyes met teal and Haruka sat down across from her. Immediately, Haruka began devouring her plate of pasta topped with homemade tomato sauce and Setsuna followed suit in a more polite manner. "Are things almost ready for tomorrow?" the long, dark green haired woman asked, spreading a small amount of parmesan cheese over her spaghetti.
Swallowing a mouth full, Haruka nodded in response and picked up a glass of water. After taking a gulp, she sighed with relief. "I just need to head out again later today, and the truck will be ready in the morning. Can you watch the stand for a few minutes tomorrow morning during the market? Need to see a guy about my watch, shouldn't take too long."
"Not a problem," Setsuna answered, shaking her head. "Business is slow in the morning anyway, I can postpone opening time of the shop – doesn't mean you can linger about," she quickly added, pointing her fork in Haruka's direction who shrugged off the warning.
XX
The engine of the small truck was rumbling, spurting as if begging to be properly looked at; it would be something Haruka would deal with after the closing of the market, she knew this little thing was probably on its last leg. Pulling up in front of the small party favor shop, Haruka shifted gears and turned the ignition off. Stepping out of the small area given for the driver, Haruka took in a deep breath of the fresh morning air that was hinted with the sea, it was that one thing she loved about this town. It was so close to sea, it did not matter where you were, you still inhaled the scent of the lovely sea. Chuckling lightly to herself, she took the couple of steps to the truck bed and flipped the metal lids open, revealing the massive amounts of ice spread out throughout the bed that separated the different types of sea life she had managed to collect. Returning to the driver seat, Haruka pulled out the scales which she hooked upon the edge of the flipped up top. There, they were ready for business.
Just in time, Setsuna was propping open the door to her small shop and her nose wrinkled in Haruka's direction. She personally did not enjoy the smell of fish, but had learned to deal with it over the last few years since it looked like Haruka definitely was not going to change her mind about her profession any time soon. "Just the man about your watch," she reminded, walking down the small set of steps leading to the front door of the shop. She tried her best not to look at the fish with a sense of disgust. It was the smell she could not stand; she did not mind actually eating these little critters. No, they were quiet tasty.
"Yes, I know," Haruka responded, holding up the wrist the watch in question was strapped upon. "Mrs. Burgio will be here soon, she's always my first customer. The wrapping paper is in the driver's seat – she's going to want a couple pounds of shrimp and maybe some cod or swordfish, that woman is constantly changing."
"Alright, alright, get going," Setsuna replied, waving her friend off. Haruka grinned in return before setting off to locate the dealer she had bought the never truthful watch from. The market wrapped around a few street blocks and the dealers who had migrated from Africa were never in a set spot like any of the other vendors. They were constantly changing spots with each other probably to keep a sense of something new in the one a week market place. Haruka kept her fish wagon in the same place for years, against Setsuna's wishes. It would be difficult to relocate. Space was limited and her customers already knew she would be in front of the party favor shop anyway. Why bother with the change?
As predicted, the man was not in the same spot her was in last week. Instead of dealing watches, there was another man with pirated DVDs – she would check those out later, right now, she had to hurry to get her watch fixed and back to her stand. She could not allow herself to be distracted, but the same second that thought had crossed her mind, something else had catch her attention – a small stand, must have been a fold out table, draped with a white cloth with different patches of scales set upon it all set at ridiculous prices. The ragged man caught her eye and smiled his toothless grin through slightly foggy grayish blue eyes. It looked like he had not bathed in weeks and the stench burned her nose, the stench of rotting fish and mold and in an attempt to make himself look decent, he tried to pat down his ragged black hair.
"Mermaid," he said, waving his hand over the scales with a barely audible lunatic laugh. "Caught off the shores of Porto Empedocle – a fair creature of pale skin," he replied, nodding furiously at Haruka who had taken a small step back (whether or not if it was due to the man's behavior or the smell, she was not sure of herself). "Long aqua hair and captive, beautiful, lurking blue eyes, rendering the hearts of men everywhere weak," he continued, keeping up his his nodding.
Haruka did not come any closer to the makeshift stand, her subconscious would not allow it, the stench was just too much for her. From where she was standing, however, the scales did not look different from some of the catches she had encountered throughout her fishing lifetime – one patch, she swore, was just that from a swordfish itself. She must have had a sense of disbelief portrayed in her body language because the man had quickly picked up on it – he was probably a master of picking the non-believers. "I've seen her with my own eyes – Michiru, she told me, she's called, a Princess of the sea-"
"I don't have time for this," Haruka finally replied. Now was not to time to hear some cock and bull mermaid legend.
"Please, mister, perhaps if you buy a scale?" he offered, picking up a patch delicately. Shaking her head, Haruka continued on her way. If she wanted a patch of swordfish scales, Haruka was more than capable to catch her very own. The sad thing was, tourist may fall victim to this man's tale and if they were willing to pay that much for scales that could be found anywhere, then it was a very sad situation in deed, but it was not her problem. Her problem was this damn watch and its fantastic ability to not tell time correctly.
"You believe me don't you?" the man had actually taken the liberty to follow after Haruka, furthering questioning the authenticity of the scales he claimed become to a half woman half fish of legends. "You're a local fisherman, you've seen the maiden, haven't you?"
"No," Haruka said simply, but he was still following her. "Mamoru," she stated clearly turning around for the final time, stopping him in his tracks, she did not want to have to reason with the town's nutter once more. "Are you even listening to yourself? A mermaid? Someone who's half fish and half human? There's no such thing, stop selling swordfish scales to tourists – go home and relax."
"You don't believe because you haven't seen with your eyes the beauty of the sea's maiden – she exists," he reassured. Haruka tried desperately to not roll her eyes at the man. He had been through too much, Mamoru had lost himself long ago, the whole town was aware.
"I don't have time for this, I need to get back to my stand," she claimed. Actually, she needed to find the man who dealt her this watch before returning to the truck, but she had no reason of sharing this information with him. "Now, I have to be on my way." Haruka began on her search once more, half surprised that Mamoru had left her alone this time. He had returned to his makeshift stand, leaving Haruka be at last. She should have known better than to have stopped, Mamoru was notorious for latching on to anyone who would listen, Haruka was well aware of this, but her common sense had momentarily left her. That was her fault entirely, but it was usually more difficult to shake him off also – maybe he was finally realizing no one did believe his ridiculous stories of finding legendary creatures whether it be at sea or in the Italian Alps. The town could only hope.
After a couple more rounds around the place (maybe the dealer in question was late to set up), Haruka, slightly annoyed, decided to give up her hunt and recent back to the party favor shop. It had taken her a bit longer to return back to the shop since she had decided it would be best to avoid Mamoru all together on the return. She did not need to be stopped again with the same outrageous claim, once was enough for anyone.
"There you are!" Setsuna called out as the truck came into view when Haruka turned the corner. "What took you so long? I have a potential customer," she hissed and gesturing towards her shop, lowering her voice as Haruka drew closer. The party favor industry was a slow one, but party favors were part of the Italian tradition, even the smallest of towns had at least one party favor shop.
"Mamoru," Haruka said, holding up her arms.
Setsuna snorted at her in response, the story was believable. She, herself, had been stopped by Mamoru as well a few weeks ago about a yetti in the mountains mainland. It was a preposterous story; the whole town was certain he hadn't even been to the mainland before in his life. He was born here in Porto Empedocle, never left the island of Sicily, and no one was sure what had happened to him from then until now. He had been a very respectable a man, a very intelligent doctor in the local hospital. Things changed drastically when a friend of his, another doctor, Dr. Tomoe, took him out upon the sea on a boat he had just recently purchased. Whatever happened on the boat, Mamoru lost everything afterwards.
Grabbing a sheet of the wrapper paper, Setsuna wiped her hands clean in a poor attempt to rid herself of the fishy smell that they had been engulfed with. "What was it this time?" she asked. It was one of those situations where you did not want to ask, but you wanted to know at the same time. After crumpling the paper into a ball, she tossed it at Haruka, already making her way into her shop.
Haruka snorted, catching the rolled up sheet of paper. "A mermaid," she called after, throwing the trash through the window of the truck and into the driver's seat. "A maiden of fair skin and blue hair… or something of the other," she shrugged her shoulders.
To Be Continued